RSS

Written by Martín Blousson, Valentín Javier Diment, Nicanor Loreti, Germán Val
Cast Lola Berthet, Horacio Acosta, Raquel Albéniz, Jimena Anganuzzi

Memory of the Dead is a very unique film that I got the chance to see at Fantasia; it is filled with love, death, friendship, ghosts, more death and lots of blood. This film is very low budget and uses a lot of special effects to please horror lovers with a bloody and beautiful twisted plot.

Alicia (Lola Berthet) has just lost her husband Jorge, and is deeply hurt by his sudden death; she gathers all of his friends who loved him to their house to read his last letter he wrote to them but Alicia has another plan in mind, a pretty fucked up plan to kill everyone and sacrifice their souls to bring Jorge back! Something starts happening within the mysterious fog that has engulfed her property, the ghosts of her guest’s past are appearing and terrorizing her guests with gruesome imagery and some very uncomfortable situations.

The make-up and special effects are very good and very gross, causing the audience at Fantasia to re-act with sounds of disgust and admiration. The crowd was loving it, taking in every scene of ripping eye-balls out of people faces, watching someone sew their eyes and mouth shut, and a lot of stabbing and blood to name a few. The characters were perfectly exaggerated, very crazy and melodramatic.

I saw a lot of homage to horror films, which included a shower scene with a nostalgic feeling from Psycho and even a little Evil Dead. I was very pleased and entertained with this film, we the audience we taken to hell and we saw some pretty disgusting things; we laughed, cringed, yelled, and cheered. I’m glad that Valentín Javier Diment was given the opportunity to have his world premier at Fantasia, he expressed his excitement and it was definitely contagious because as soon as he introduced his film the audience became silent and wide-eyed, waiting for something we could have never been fully prepared for. This film is not for everyone and you should proceed with caution while watching, it will shock you and may seem a little silly but hey! When will you get the chance to experience going to hell and then coming back to the real world? Now you have that chance so take it and watch Memory of the Dead; you will leave the theatre with some new horrifically awesome memories of your own.

- Andrea Boulet
@AndreaMtl

Amadou & Mariam (Photo: Pat Beaudry)

Once I arrived at Parc Jean Drapeau, I picked up my media pass and immediately made my way to Scene de la Montagne to see Amadou & Mariam, the blind couple from Mali. Their sound is traditional Mali music with a rock-blues influence. Amadou is a great guitarist, and Mariam has a beautiful voice that immediately captures you when she sings. She also had a cute little groove. The entire band was full of energy, and the crowd loved it!

The Weeknd (Photo: Pat Beaudry)

After that, I checked out R&B singer The Weeknd. He got on stage with a big smile, showed Montreal the love, and everyone went crazy! As one girl in the crowd put it, "I don't even scream this loud in bed." That pretty much sums up people's reaction to him. He sang songs from his albums Thursday and House Of Balloons. He also sang "Crew Love," which was a definite crowd pleaser. The only thing that left me skeptical was the voice effects on his songs, which made it look like he was lip synching. I guess I'll never know for sure.

Classified (Photo: Tim Snow)

Due to a schedule overlap, I had to leave the Weeknd show early to catch Classified at Scene Verte. Classified performed tracks from his latest album Handshakes and Middle Fingers, and a few from his older albums like Hitch Hikin' Music and Self Explanatory. He also performed some classic 90s hip-hop tracks from his time, and I really enjoyed that because that was my decade too. He showed concern for kids in the crowd by telling parents that this is a "weed-smoking crowd" and that kids shouldn't be there. Being a weed smoker himself, Classified smoked weed on stage and passed it on to his brother Mic Boyd. He also got a little greedy with his time, so they shut the power off in order to get him off stage. Classified is one of my favorite Canadian artists, and since I kept missing him every time he came to Montreal, I was really happy to finally see him perform.

Zeds Dead (Photo: Nick Leger)

After a quick rest and a poutine for lunch, I walked through the merchant stands on my way to see Justice and heard this crazy electronic beat. I followed the sound and found myself at the Scene Piknic Electronik. The group Zeds Dead was performing and the grooves were crazy. Their dub step drum-and-bass sound had everyone dancing, and each time I started to walk away I just had to walk back. I swear I did this three times!

Sigur Rós (Photo: Pat Beaudry)

I finally made my way to Scene de la Riviere and watched Iceland's Sigur Rós perform while I waited for Justice to take the stage. I had no idea who they were, but they're music was hypnotic. The girl had a beautiful and haunting voice, and the xylophones really enriched their sound. I also liked the special effects on the screens behind them, and was mesmerized by the black and white images and fuzzy-television effects.

Justice (Photo: Pat Beaudry)

After Sigur Rós performed, the adjacent stage lit up as the keyboards played the "Dracula" theme song, and the band Justice appeared out of thin air. I saw the Justice documentary, A Cross The Universe, and all I could think about was what jokers these guys were. True to form, Xavier de Rosnay had this stone-face expression while he smoked a cigarette, and Gaspard Augé had his curly hair all over his face. The stage was super cool with the light and crosses going with the beat, and I really loved their 80s-inspired electro synth sound. Justice sure turned Friday night into a big party!

-Lady Oracle hosts The Limelight on Saturdays from 6-8pm

It was a busy weekend for Montreal police as 3 murders occurred in a little more than 24 hours could be related to street gangs.

According to the Gazette the leader of the Bo-Gars street gang was shot dead in a parking garage at Les Galeries d'Anjou on Friday evening. Several hours later a 42-year old man was shot and killed outside his Laval apartment building. The second victim is a cousin of a Bo-Gars associate.

On Saturday afternoon a man was found dead inside his penthouse apartment on Cote-des-Neiges road. He died from a gunshot to the upper-body.

Police have not yet confirmed whether or not the third murder is linked to the ones from Friday evening.

Students at CEGEP St. Laurent have voted to continue their 6 month boycott of classes against proposed tuition hikes.

In a report by CBC News, the vote is contingent on 20 000 students from other CEGEPS and universities joining them.

The margin separating both sides was by only 18 votes. Over 500 students who attend the CEGEP voted.

Student associations have been voting over the past week on whether or not to end the boycott they began last February.

Some student associations at 3 universities voted to continue the boycott. However, all 3 CEGEP associations that voted last week wanted to go back to class. More votes are expected in the coming days.